


Wolf

by Beth Harker (Beth_Harker)



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Angst, Canon Era, M/M, One Shot, Swearing, Werewolf AU, post strike, semi-graphic descriptions of gore and other icky stuff that goes along with being a werewolf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 17:31:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16499687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beth_Harker/pseuds/Beth%20Harker
Summary: In which Jack is a hunted animal, and it's causing some problems in his relationship with David.





	Wolf

"You promised it wouldn't happen again."

David's voice is as cold as ice, and as sharp as a blade. He doesn't even look at Jack. They stand side by side on the fire escape, and the world around them is bright and civilized. Laundry waves in the breeze. Mrs. Jacobs cooks dinner inside. People in the street below and the the rooftops above go about their evenings, happy and content to know that it will be another month before the next full moon, another month before the fiction of mundane and ordinary life gave way once again to sordid, bloodthirsty scenes like something out of a penny dreadful. 

Jack can feel it, the wolf within him. It's there in the way he wishes that he could hurt David for trying to keep him bound to his old life, and in the snarl gathering in the back of his throat. He's ready to retreat, tail between his legs, off to some empty, natural place to lick his wounds and wait for the next transformation.

David still isn't talking to him, so Jack does the talking. 

"Woke up somewhere in the Bronx, this time. Naked, you know, all curled up in an alleyway. Behind a pile of trash. Scratched up something fierce. Spent a couple hours puking up pigeon entrails. Guess I'm getting better at remembering what happens. The pigeon tasted a hell of a lot better going in than coming out." Jack runs his hand nervously up through his hair. He doesn't know why he's telling David this, except to let David know why he has to go. 

"If you hadn't _run away_ from me..."

Jack groans. He looks up at the sky. "I ain't your dog Dave. I try to control it, but I ain't some goddamned..." 

"Alright! I get it! You'd rather run around eating pigeons than listen to me and possibly save your life! Do you have the first idea what they're doing to people like you? They're not even trying to cure it anymore. If they catch you, they'll shoot, and you won't be content until it happens." 

David's voice is getting higher, in the way it does sometimes, and Jack can't quite tell if he is on the verge of tears, or gearing up to soak him. David pushes so hard against the railing that the whole thing shakes, and Jack wants to grab him and steady him, but he doesn't dare. Jack swallows. 

"You can't keep on helping me, Dave. One of these days, you're gonna get bit." 

"I don't care!" 

"Or they'll arrest you and your entire family for trying to hide me," 

"My family doesn't know." 

"And you know what? The police don't give a shit. The doctors trying to contain the thing don't give a shit either. They's talking about closing up the city soon. No more trains in or out. They do that, and I'm good as dead. Maybe you is too." 

David is gripping the railing now, scowling at it, his face unreadable. There's so much that Jack wants to tell him. He wants to thank him for trying, and for being there and for being gentle in the mornings after the moon set, and the transformation back into human left Jack trembling all over, feeling like he'd been smashed into a million pieces and welded back together with parts missing. He wants to tell David that he knows, that he understands, that he loves him back. 

"I'm out of here tomorrow morning," Jack says instead. 

"To Santa Fe?" David spits out Jack's one dream as though it's a curse. 

"No time for that. No money. That should make you happy at least. I'm gonna go somewhere I don't even wanna go, and I'm gonna to be miserable." 

"Don't try to make me feel sorry for you. You're the one making this choice. You will be miserable, and you'll only have yourself to blame." 

Jack looks at David, tries to memorize his features, and then gives up. He doesn't want to think of David like this, illogical, angry, and so damned childish in his anger. He thinks instead of David, the strike leader, the one who could do anything until all this darkness hit, and the two of them got tangled up in it. With that image fixed in his head, Jack Kelly takes his leave of David Jacobs. 


End file.
